Tuesday the 25th - See Ya Next Week

English 11

Today was a busy day in English 11. We were starting a few tasks which we'll continue to work on and finish over the next few days. Remember that I'll be out for the next two classes, so today you started some of the tasks that you'll be finishing up. Let's review what we did and talk about what we have coming up.

We started the day by doing some vocabulary review. Your quiz will be next week on Wednesday. Your review assignment is due on the day of the quiz. It's a formative grade, the quiz will be a summative one. After our vocabulary time, we worked on analyzing non-print texts. I really liked the outcomes that you all were getting to related to the images, the way to draw details from them, and the connections that can be built. After that, we went to the work on our presentations.

The presentation work will be the main work for you on Thursday and into next week. It's time for you to find sources, finalize your research question, and consider your argument. If you're working in a group, each person needs to have ownership of a part. On Thursday and Monday you'll continue to find and process sources to contribute to your final presentation. You'll also be focused on reading so that you can get finished with your books. 

I'll keep up with you the best I can while I'm away. Be respectful stewards of our space and welcoming to our guest. I look forward to seeing where your presentations are going and to wrapping up our unit in the coming weeks.

21 February - Happy Friday!

English 11

A good day to end the week today in English 11. I'm really excited to see what you all did today for your reading quizzes, and I was so happy to see the great thinking related to Gloria Steinem's article. Here's our review of class.

We started the day by reflecting on our central question for the year - What are some American problems? Why are they important? Whom do they effect? We had some very vibrant conversation and drew a lot of connections between problems, their impacts, and the various texts we've read this year. From there, we looked at "Women Are Never Frontrunners" by Gloria Steinem. In the article she discusses sexism, misogyny, and the impact that this has on women no matter who they are in America. Steinem takes a political approach, but we can see the reality of her words in every day life. 

To end class, we completed our quiz on our books. If you didn't have time to finish, please be sure that it is turned in by Monday morning so that I can score it. In the quiz, we focused on a key passage and demonstrated our ability to understand and interpret the passage. The quiz was open book. If you were not in class, you can feel free to complete the quiz on your own, or we can meet at Lion Time.

Be in touch with any questions or concerns that you may have. We're going to be pivoting to focus on our projects here at the end of the unit, so be ready for that! Keep reading and making progress through your books. That's the best way to prepare for what we have ahead.

Have a great weekend!

19 February - WorkKeys, Done!

English 11

Great work today, everyone! We did the WorkKeys test. I'm so happy from looking at the data that so many of you felt prepared from our practice and focus on writing over the last few weeks and the year so far. If you were absent, don't worry, there's a retest opportunity. I should know your results soon, and I'll communicate them with you as soon as possible. 

After our WorkKeys test today, we took time for ourselves. There was our reflection form (you can't do it if you were absent because it relies on the test), and then we cleaned out notebooks or just relaxed a bit. Next class we'll be focusing solely on our books and research based presentations related to the books. Be ready to do some work related to your book on Friday, so read in order to prepare. We'll have our presentations in mid-March, which isn't too far away. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday, unless of course this snow that's falling has other plans for us.

14 February - Happy Valentine's Day!

English 11

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! It was a space full of love today as we did so much fantastic work. We had a bit of a split class with half focused on writing and half focused on reading. Here's our overview.

We started, as we often do, with some grammar. The grammar corrections were based off of some of the errors that I saw in your last letter practice. The major things are comma usage, capitalization, and run-on or fragment sentences. I hope that the feedback and practice was helpful for you. From there, we moved into developing our Game Plan for WorkKeys on Wednesday. Turn in your plan. Take a picture and upload that or show it to me when we're in class on Wednesday. I want you to each have a plan for the night before, your packing list, and what you'll do with your time when you write.

After our writing preparation, we moved into reading. We looked at two texts today - "New York Day Women" by Edwidge Danticat and "Anchorage" by Joy Harjo. I loved sharing a piece about my hometown in Alaska. The readings are posted as are the read-alouds. We didn't have as much time as I would have liked with the texts, but we did come to some good understandings.

If you were absent, be sure to review the post and the recording. I do want your Game Plan for Wednesday, even if you were absent today. Over the weekend, focus on preparing for your writing test. If you need more help, I'm here during Lion Time on Wednesday for it. Enjoy the long weekend!

10 February - Monday and Snow in the Forecast

English 11

Great day in English 11 today. I loved watching you all collaborate together as you discussed your books and the future presentations that you'll put together related to your novel study. Remember some of the major ideas of this project as you're working and planning:

1. The goal is to have ownership of the project, even if you're working as a group. Each person needs to have a particular portion. You can share an introduction and conclusion, but each person should have their own evidence.

2. Evidence can be shared. Even if you're working on your own, I would hope that you still collaborate with your group about the work you're doing.

3. Your presentation can be in a variety of formats. You can do a slide show, a TikTok video, a speech, or another option. Remember that you can also present to the whole class, to me, or to a small group. Consider what is the most achievable for you!

As we're now starting to wrap up our preparation for our writing test next week, we'll be focused more on this project. Coming in during Lion Time or after school is also a great way to make some forward momentum. 

The main focus for us today was beginning our projects, we also had reading time, and did our next five vocabulary words. Hopefully I'll see you on Wednesday, but if school is canceled because of the snow, then I'll see you on Friday. Be sure that if you missed your vocabulary quiz on List 4 or your practice letter (either one) that you see me to make this up! It's important that you get the letter practice and feedback before you write next week for the state.

6 February - End of the Week

English 11

Phew! What a day! I'm sorry that I almost missed your lunch; we were just so wrapped up in the work that we were doing! Thanks, Casey for the reminder.

Today, like most of the days right now, we focused on writing. With the winter weather in the forecast, today may be one of our last practice opportunities before our state test. I'm really happy with what I'm seeing with your writing. We reviewed some feedback for the class and did some more practice. I hope that you enjoyed this moderately creative writing assignment. Remember, if your author is still alive, you might want to share what you wrote with them. Who knows, maybe they'll write you back!

We also took a bit of time for vocabulary at the end of class today. The words have been posted in the slides. Remember that we'll have two more quizzes before we have our major grade. If you need to take care of your List 4 Quiz from last week, please make an appointment for next week. I'd recommend that we do Monday the 10th because of the weather warning for next week.

4 February - Tuesday is for Writing

English 11

Pretty easy day for us on a Tuesday in English 11. We started the day with some time to read and then meet with our groups to discuss our novels. We updated our slides and discussed our research topics. Remember that right now the goal is for you to continue reading and to be ready to finish these book projects after we take our state writing test.

After that, we did some practice for that writing test with a mini-letter today. If you were absent, I'll want you to make up this assignment. You do not need to come to Lion Time, but you can if you'd like to. To end our day, we completed a reading and study of a poem - remember that you'll see poetry on your reading test, so we'll keep preparing for this eventuality.

For tonight, keep reading! We'll be working a lot with our books next class. We'll also take a look at another few poems to discuss the differences, challenges, and the beauty that poetry can provide. Please be in touch with any needs you may have. Your next Lion Time is Thursday, and I'm available to work with you.

31 January - Ending January and Beginning Quarter Three

English 11

Happy Friday, everyone! There were a lot of absences today. I hope that if you were away that you are doing well. Know that you're very much missed in A101. Today's class focused on preparing for our upcoming writing test and setting up some vocabulary work. 

We started the day with our List 4 Quiz. These grades have been put in the gradebook. If you were absent, or if you need a retake, please see me next week during Lion Time to get this done. After our quiz, we rolled into our review of the WorkKeys exam. Remember that this exam is your credit for writing, and you need to pass this test in order to graduate. Thankfully, we're in a good place when it comes to writing. You all did very well on your letters. The main issue is time and the fact that we don't know the question. Over the next few classes we'll focus on preparing for this by quick thinking and quick writing.

Over the weekend, keep reading your books. It looks like a few of you are stuck in the beginning. Meet your goals! Be true to yourself and what you set out to do. Next class will focus on writing and reading, like most of our classes, and we'll be diving forward a bit in our WorkKeys preparation.

Have a great weekend! As always, be in touch with anything that you may need. 

28 January - Registration Day

English 11

Easy day today - it was course registration day. We met with counselors to decide on classes for senior year. There was no official lesson for today's class. If you were missing an assignment, it was a final chance to get caught up and submit work. Grades are finalized on Friday. If you were absent today, please check in about how you can still complete your tasks and get credit.

Right now the goal is to keep reading and to prepare for your upcoming quiz. On Friday you'll have your List 4 Quiz. If you're signing up for the Honors option for English 11, you'll see a new type of question. Make sure to stay focused on learning definitions of the words. We'll also be diving more into writing on Friday and in the first part of Quarter 3 since we have our state writing exam soon. 

As always, be in touch about how I can help. I'm here to support as we cross into second semester.

24 January - The Return of Mr. Miller

English 11

It was so absolutely wonderful to be with you all today and finish this week. Given how I spent last class trapped in a metal tube on the Atlanta airport runway, this was a marked improvement. We did a few different activities today - note that these are grades for Quarter 2, so if you were absent, you need to complete them.

First we had our vocabulary practice. See the slides and the assignment posted in Unit 3. I want you to work on a few words to review their meaning to prepare for next week's quiz. The quiz will be on Friday. Focus on learning meaning of the words and using them. The practice assignment was aligned to this. After vocabulary, we went into book work. The quiz is a bit of a different beast - see the discussion board and reply to your group's thread if you were absent. Remember that this is just temporary for now - you can change your topic/idea down the road. The main thing is to keep reading! Get your content down and behind you. We'll keep working with these books more and more over the next days.

Next class will be our registration meetings with counselors. If you're interested in moving to the Honors English option for second semester, you'll have that conversation with them on Tuesday. If you have any missing major assignments, these are due by Tuesday. We're moving to third quarter, so we need to finish up our residuals. Please make your appointment for Lion Time on Tuesday! I really appreciate those of you who came in today and so far.

17 January - End of the Week

English 11:

We had a really great day today in English 11 to finish out the week. It was a filled day where we worked on a few different skills. We also took some time for reading and group meetings. Some of you were absent today, and you were missed! Your groups will be waiting to submit the group contract until next class when you're with us.

We started the day with a bit of grammar and talked about combining sentences. We reviewed the ways in which we can combine sentences and the sticky bits about some pieces of punctuation and their usage: Remember that colons are only used when the second sentence directly adds on to the first. Try applying some of these strategies as you're writing. We'll keep working more on this soon. From there we did some review of narrative elements and then began to apply them to our books. These are the terms that you'll be asked about on your Virginia Reading SOL, so it's important that we learn them now!

I'm really enjoying watching you all collaborate and read in your groups. It warms my heart! Next class you'll have a quiz on your books, so the best thing to do is to read in order to prepare. Weekends, especially long ones like this, are great for us to read. At the very end of class, we finished our last five vocabulary words. We'll practice and review next class.

Remember that the end of the grading period is right around the corner. If you're missing your letter or reading test from Unit 2, please make a Lion Time pass to settle that up. You can submit your vocabulary project whenever you'd like. All grades will be finalized on January 29, so don't wait! 

15 January - Wacky Wednesday

English 11

Welcome to Wacky Wednesday, y'all! Today was a great day because we were collaborating, critically thinking, and communicating a lot about our books and elements of their rhetorical situation today. I really enjoyed seeing you all do your author research, read further into your books, and engage in some analysis of political cartoons. We did some feedback today as well on our recent writing assignments. If you would like to revise your letter, or if you need to complete it, please make an appointment for LT on Wednesday the 22nd. Remember that you have until the 28th to complete any redos or missing assignments.

We took a bit of time for reading before lunch and then kept going through our vocabulary for this list. We'll likely have a vocabulary quiz to open up Quarter 3, so be prepared! For tonight, keep reading so that you can meet your goals. I've posted audiobook versions in our unit folder, and I'm looking for more. Next class we'll be spending more time with our books so that we can start to understand how they do what they do and what narrative elements the authors are choosing to employ. See you on Friday!

13 January - Happy New Year

English 11

Great day today, y'all. It was so good to see everyone and reconnect after the extended winter break. Today we had a bit of a strange class because we divided at the beginning, but then we came back together and finished strong as a whole group. The main focus of this unit will be our book studies. We'll be doing a lot of reading, thinking, discussing, and processing of these books and what they're telling us about the United States. Today we looked at the major assignments that we'll be completing related to this book and began to make our group contract. We finished class with some vocabulary work.

I also gave out progress reports today for the end of the quarter. If you are missing a major assignment, it's important to get that in as soon as possible. If you are interested in retaking the reading test or in revising your letter, these are also available to you to raise your scores at the end of the quarter. I'm available for Lion Time on Wednesday and Friday to help with retakes, revisions, or with dropping zeroes. Please put in a pass as soon as you can. Enjoy your books! Enjoy your day! I'll see you on Wednesday!

20 December - Happy Break!

English 11

Great last day today, everyone! Thank you for your reflections on the year, advice to me about 2025, and your goals. I'm excited for what we have ahead of us next year. For today we went into our notebooks for reflection, then we did some book shopping to prepare for next year. If you weren't here for class, please make sure that you complete the book shopping form. I've also posted the recordings for the pitches on the books, if you'd like to listen.

We did some watching and reading and thinking today. It was a great day! I'm excited to see y'all in the new year. 

18 December - Wacky Wednesday!

English 11

Y'all gave me so many gifts today and that is records of your work and your thinking. Thank you for being so productive during our testing day. If you were absent, you'll want to schedule a Lion Time pass to take your reading test AFTER Winter Break. 

If you have missing major work, try to get that in. Let's make a plan for Lion Time when we return, if necessary. You can complete the vocabulary on your own, but please plan to work with me to do the letter. I'll be updating grades throughout the next few days, and I hope to have them finalized by the time we go out on Friday.

On Friday we'll do some book shopping to prepare for the next unit. If you'll be absent, please complete the Google Form, so I can make some recommendations for you. As always, reach out with any questions or concerns.

16 December - A Manic Monday!

English 11

Pretty good day today to start the week. We were focused on reading and reviewing for our test that we have next class. We focused on elements of reading non-fiction and key skills to demonstrate next class. It's most important that you remember the rhetorical situation: purpose, context, audience, writer, and message. Be sure that you read the text efficiently to identify these elements. Once you have the message, it's easy to see the evidence that is used to support that message. Also keep in mind the way in which these elements work together to support each other. One can help you find the other.

We also played Jeopardy today! You're all winners in my book, so we got some small prizes for participation. I've posted the Jeopardy slides if you want to review them again to help you study. Remember that the best way to study is to read, so it might be a good idea to read a bit more or review one of your research sources as you prepare for next class.

At the very end, we took some time to finish up our main work. The most important items are the letter, research write-up, and vocabulary project. Be sure that you're focused on these. Check your Gradebook in Schoology to keep up with what you have turned in and what's been scored. I'll be updating through the week. You'll have all class next time for the test, so you might have time to finish up tasks in class. Please make an LT pass for Wednesday if you need additional help. I'm also after school on Thursday.

12 December - Writing Day!

English 11

Great day today everyone! I'm so proud of all of you and excited to read what you wrote for me today. The goal of today's class was to complete our Research Write-Up OR the Summative Writing Assignment. I'm so glad to see that I have a good amount of work to grade. I'm planning to score on Sunday. If you have other items to submit like your Vocabulary Project/Test or your formatives (like your outline) try to get those in as soon as possible so that I can update your grades.

Next class we'll be doing a review activity for our reading test and then the test is going to occur on Wednesday. For this test you'll be reading and responding to questions to demonstrate your reading comprehension and interpretation skills.

If you need additional help, please make a LT appointment for Monday or Wednesday. I'm after school on Thursday for additional help. The goal is to complete all of our Unit 2 work before we go out on break so that we can do revisions and resubmissions after. 

6 December - Friday Feels

English 11

Solid end of the week in English 11; the only bad thing was that we were missing so many of you. I hope that all of you are doing well. Today we engaged in our final reading for Unit 2 and looked at Brent Staples and Langston Hughes. We chose our adventure for reading and then dove in. We explored ideas like racism and segregation and the way in which each author used personal experience to convey their argument on the topic. We also looked at some art that engaged in similar ideas. The end of class brought out a fantastic synthesizing conversation. See the recording for all of this.

We didn't quite have the time I wanted for the end of class, so I extended your Research Write-Up to Tuesday. Tuesday will be the last day to collect evidence for your letter. We're writing on Thursday. Complete and submit the Write-Up so that you're as prepared as possible. I'll be grading and providing feedback throughout the next few days. Enjoy your weekend and your time with the substitute on Tuesday. Make it a productive day! 

4 December - Wacky Wednesday

English 11

What a fantastic day today, everyone! You all were so productive during your catch-up day. I've got plenty of assignments to grade, and I'll get through them tomorrow and Friday morning. Everything in SiS will be updated before progress reports are sent out on Friday afternoon. There's no recording today because the slides really do a good job of covering what we did in class.

If you are still completing your reading (the documentary study) or writing (the outline) formative grades, be sure to turn those in as soon as you can. Remember to use the resources posted to help you with your outlining and writing. My goal in giving you those sentence frames is to make the writing a bit faster and easier for you.

On Friday we'll be focused on finishing our Research Write-Ups and discussing our sources. We'll also do a bit of reading on Friday to start to wrap up this unit of study on The Harlem Renaissance. On Tuesday of next week, I'll be out. You'll have your vocabulary assignment to complete. I posted the video with the assignment to help with it. We have a lot of major grades coming up! Thursday we'll be writing our letters and the week after we'll take our unit reading examination. You'll have more than enough time when we come back from Winter Break for revising or retesting.

2 December - Welcome Back!

English 11

Great day today in English 11 as we got back together to do some of the great work that we do. We started our day by listening to some jazz and understanding the power of Bessie Smith's lyrics and language. I loved the ideas that you all brought out connected to isolation and the change of fortunes. We then got into our work focused on James Baldwin and his article "Notes of a Native Son". We discussed the difference in genre from a letter to an essay and how that would lead to differences in Baldwin's approach to the text. We read together and studied in order to understand the text and Baldwin's arguments to Americans about racism and its effects.

When we came back from lunch, we were focused on individual tasks. The main focus right now is the Research Write-Up. You'll need to be focused this week on finalizing your research question, argument, and the evidence for your letter. We'll be writing next week on Thursday. You'll submit the Research Write-Up when it's finished, and I'll provide feedback. The goal is that we will finish all major grades before winter break and transition to a new unit when we return. It's time to lock in for a strong finish to the year!